Kuala Lampur, Feb. 10 -- Singapore's Prisons Act 1933 has undergone at least three major amendments in the last 25 years.

The first in 2000 introduced a home detention scheme. At the second reading of the Prisons (Amendment) Bill 2000, the home minister said:

"[A]mendments to the Prisons Act are now necessary to enhance the effectiveness of our Prisons Service and offer our penal population with more rehabilitation opportunities... [T]he main set of amendments ... are related to the introduction of Tail-End Home Detention for penal inmates."

The minister informed the House that an Inter-Ministry Committee to examine the feasibility of introducing Community-Based Sentences into the country's criminal justice system was formed in 1998 wh...